As Michael heads west with General Grant, his half-brother Joshua rides south to Atlanta with General Sherman and then turns East in the march to the sea. But Joshua's experiences in the Army are much different than Michael's. After the war ends Joshua takes a different path and stays in the army to go west with Colonel Grierson in the Tenth Cavalry. What Joshua does and the things that happen to him will affect Michael's future after the Civil War ends and that of Michael's children.